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Thomas Buckner
Wadada Leo Smith: String Quartets Nos. 1-12
by Mark Corroto
Wadada Leo Smith's seven CD boxset String Quartets Nos. 1-12 summons two words, epic and ineffable. The 5½ hours of music chronicle three of his four periods writing for string quartets from 1965 until 2019. The remaining work, “String Quartets Nos. 13, 14, and 15" inspired by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the US Constitution, although written, have yet to be recorded. Smith's vision is skillfully executed by the RedKoral Quartet—Shalini Vijayan (violin), Mona Tian (violin), Andrew McIntosh ...
read moreWadada Leo Smith: String Quartets Nos. 1-12
by Karl Ackermann
In the thirty-page booklet that accompanies Wadada Leo Smith's String Quartets Nos. 1-12, the trumpeter & composer devotes a few paragraphs to the subject of inspiration. He traces an irregular line whose points include Claude Debussy, Dmitri Shostakovich, Muddy Waters, Ornette Coleman, and others. But those diverse artists, who came and went before Smith, have no markers in this seven-disc box set; they illuminate the composer's creative process and lay the barest groundwork for his new concepts. The ...
read moreRoscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission
by Alberto Bazzurro
Decisamente prolifico, in anni recenti, Roscoe Mitchell, e non ce ne rallegreremo mai abbastanza. Certo, con lui c'è sempre il rischio del prodotto non perfettamente a fuoco, centrato, in poche parole all'altezza del suo grande talento (e ormai, varcata la soglia degli ottanta, acclarato magistero, e da un po'), ma per fortuna non è questo il caso: in questo lavoro con la Ostravska Banda così felicemente articolato è in qualche modo raccolto, quintessenziato, il succo del suo sapere (e ardire) ...
read moreRoscoe Mitchell: Splatter
by Mark Corroto
The special performances of saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell's Conversation Series with orchestra are cause for celebration. The logistics of more than two dozen players is demanding. Add transcriptions for each instrument, rehearsals, grant writing, and securing an appropriate venue. Mitchell has traveled many miles since his debut Sound (Delmark Records, 1966) and his work in the Art Ensemble of Chicago. These days he has the standing to realize his concepts, and our ears are better for it.
read moreRoscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission
by Mark Corroto
Sometimes music makes you want to become a better dancer, or maybe even a better lover. With Roscoe Mitchell's music, you can't help but aspire to be a better listener. The co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians creates sounds that transcend jazz, new classical, and avant-garde musics. With Distant Radio Transmission he presents music that he previously recorded (solo or in small improvising groups) and reworked for a 33-piece orchestra, ...
read moreRoscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission
by Karl Ackermann
Roscoe Mitchell, a co-founder of the AACM and Art Ensemble of Chicago, continues to discover new intersections of jazz, classical and avant-garde music with Distant Radio Transmission. As he approaches eighty years of age Mitchell has waved off time and tradition, reinventing the AEoC brand with the orchestrated--sometimes operatic--We Are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration (Pi Recordings, 2019), a project that bore little resemblance to the group's historical discography. On this album, he draws on past compositions to ...
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Music
String Quartet Nov. 1, Movement 1
From: String Quartets Nos. 1-12By Thomas Buckner
